


I'm sorry.

by DmitriMolotov



Series: The Fakes One-shots and Prompts [4]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Fake AH Crew, GTA AU, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-12 18:40:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7117951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DmitriMolotov/pseuds/DmitriMolotov
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A momentary lapse in judgement in this city is enough to get you killed.</p>
<p>The last thing they ever heard from Ryan was a very short text, saying he was sorry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A momentary lapse in judgement in this city is enough to get you killed.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The_Corvid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Corvid/gifts).



> This all started on Tumblr with an [illustration by VexHexer](https://dmitrimolotov.tumblr.com/post/144944093798/vexhexer-a-lapse-in-concentration-in-this-line).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Read on Tumblr here.](https://dmitrimolotov.tumblr.com/post/144986141038/a-momentary-lapse-in-judgement-in-this-city-is)  
>  There are other little tidbits on Tumblr too that I don't publish here, so if you like this kind of stuff, it's worthwhile checking out.

Ryan grimaced through the pain as he staggered into the alleyway behind the convenience store, the sound of sirens in the distance, the knife still buried in his chest.

_Stupid kid._

It was a fucking kitchen knife too. Probably some garbage steel, from one of those cheap knife block sets relatives bought as wedding gifts.

_Probably his mom’s._

God damn it. He couldn’t have been any older than 16. What the fuck was wrong with this city, that a 16 year old took his mom’s fucking kitchen knife to rob a store?

It fucking hurt. He didn’t dare remove it though. There were lots of vitals in there; as far as he could tell his lung hadn’t collapsed yet, but any movement could see it happen, so he carefully tried not to disturb the blade. In trying not to move it though, he missed his step and managed to stumble hard into the side of a dumpster, letting out an anguished cry as he sank to the ground against the brick wall.

He hadn’t even been on a job, just a late night run to the store to pick up some drinks for the lads. No mask, no paint, just his jacket and his pistol just in case of trouble.

He hadn’t even used it. He felt so stupid. So soft. He was just a kid after all…

A momentary lapse in judgement in this city is enough to get you killed.

A moment of sympathy for some troubled teen. All he’d wanted to do was help.

The kid was scared, in way over his head. He’d tried to talk him out of it, but the kid recognized his jacket, saw the gun he had no intention of using. The kid had panicked.

The clerk had shot him for it.

Ryan felt the pressure in his chest build, and suddenly it became very difficult to breathe. Blood oozed from the wound around the knife, forced out by small bubbles, foaming around the edges. His lung was collapsing. More than that though, his heart rate had become erratic and his extremities were losing feeling. This wasn’t an injury he was going to survive.

He would have laughed; after everything he’d survived up until this point, this is how it ends.

_What a shitty way to die._

He was shaking all over, but he reached for his phone and stared at Geoff’s number, thumb hovering over the call button, not entirely sure what he planned on saying. There was nothing they could do for him. He didn’t want them to have to feel that kind of helplessness.

Instead he opted for a simple text, sent to the crew’s group chat as the world grew hazy around him.

_I fucked up. I’m sorry._

It was the last thing they ever heard from him.


	2. I wish you knew we would have been there for you...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first chapter of this story made me [realize something](https://dmitrimolotov.tumblr.com/post/145296295548/quiet-little-headcanon-6)
> 
> [Read on Tumblr](https://dmitrimolotov.tumblr.com/post/145513668518/i-wish-you-knew-we-would-have-been-there-for).

Geoff checked his phone as it buzzed insistently in his pocket. He noticed the rest of the crew move for their phones too. It was a text from Ryan to the group chat.

_I fucked up. I’m sorry._

“Alright, that’s fucking ominous. I take it everyone got that?” Geoff asked.

The lads nodded, Jack stuck his head around the corner from the kitchen as if to ask the same thing, but noticed everyone had their phones out already.

“Why would he send it to all of us?” Gavin asked.

Jeremy frowned, “Maybe he’s in trouble?”

“Going to the store? He probably just bought the wrong beer,” Michael scoffed, “I’ll text him back.”

Michael quickly typed, _What’s up? You ok?_

“Better check the scanner, just in case he’s gotten into trouble with the cops,” Jack suggested.

Geoff huffed a laugh, “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

Gavin flicked on the police radio scanner and listened in.

Michael glanced at his phone, no reply yet. Maybe he was on the run.

“Ugh, there was a shooting at the shop down the road,” Gavin reported back with a cringe, “Think that might be him?”

“Yeah, that sounds about right,” Geoff sighed, “Is anyone sober enough to go get him?”

That was why he’d gone out in the first place. He didn’t want any of them to drive drunk. They were hardly drunk, all experienced drivers or at least perfectly capable of handling themselves. Ryan had insisted anyway.

Jeremy and Michael both stepped forward.

“Alright, one of you motherfuckers drive,” Geoff announced, “Gavin, Jack, stay here in case he comes back.”

Michael glanced back down at his phone, still nothing. He tried again just in case Ryan hadn’t gotten the notification. _Where are you?_

Jeremy drove, Geoff sat in the passenger seat and tried to call Ryan. He got no response. Michael tried another text in case he couldn’t talk. It was only a ten-minute drive, but they were beginning to worry.

It wasn’t unusual for Ryan to get a bit trigger happy and lead cops on a chase around the city for shits and giggles, but usually he was a bit more… enthusiastic about it. The thing that really worried them though, he hadn’t been wearing his mask or his paint when he left. He wouldn’t do something so reckless if there was a risk of being recognized.

Michael’s stomach twisted. Jeremy ‘s knuckles were white over the steering wheel and Geoff was bouncing nervously in his seat.

As they pulled up close to the store they could hear sirens and see the glow of red and blue lights. Jeremy parked the car in the next block and the three of them walked casually past, scoping it out.

An ambulance and a cop car. Not a very Ryan-like scenario. The body the ambulance was now taking away was far too small to be Ryan. Geoff, Jeremy and Michael breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

A man who looked to be the clerk sat on the ground out the front of the closed store with his head in his hands. He was mumbling something to the police officer. Something about a stabbing…

They got to the corner of the store and waited in the entrance of the alleyway leading around the back so they could make a quick getaway if the cops got suspicious.

Geoff pulled a face, “I’m gonna try calling him again.”

Jeremy nodded and Michael looked down at his phone again. It had only been 15 minutes since Ryan’s first text.

He heard a faint ringing coming from behind him and looked up at the same time as Geoff and Jeremy. The three exchanged a worried glance before wordlessly following the sound down the alley.

Michael’s blood froze, Jeremy’s hand covered his mouth and Geoff breathed a heavy sigh and squeezed his eyes shut as if to block out the image.

Ryan was slumped against the wall, head dropped to his chest, his legs bent out in front of him, in a pool of sticky, congealing blood that looked far too wide. There was a kitchen knife embedded in his chest. He was so pale and unnervingly still.

“R-Ryan?” Jeremy stammered weakly.

Michael instinctively knelt down next to him, his knees landing in the thick pool of blood. He pressed his fingers against Ryan’s neck, feeling for a pulse. He was still warm, soft, like he’d just dozed off on the job and Michael refused to believe he was dead, instead convincing himself that he was just an idiot who couldn’t find a pulse.

After a few minutes of frustration, Michael was getting angry at himself and starting to swear under his breath “…fucking idiot, can’t even find a damn pulse… piece of shit first aid courses teaching us wrong…” Tears were stinging his eyes as he searched. Geoff gently tugged him up off the ground and pulled him into a hug under his right arm.

Jeremy swallowed the lump that had been building in his chest and leaned into Geoff, finding his way under Geoff’s left arm and wrapping his own arms around both the others, holding them tight.

“God damn it Ryan,” Geoff’s voice caught in his throat and cracked, “why the fuck couldn’t you just _tell us_?”

Geoff knew why. He knew because this is what Ryan _does_. Ryan runs. Ryan can’t deal with things he can’t control. Ryan doesn’t think anyone else can either. It didn’t stop Geoff from hating him for it.

If there was such a thing as aggressive crying, that was what Michael was doing now. Trying hard to hold it back, gritting his teeth against the emotion, hands balling into fists and just aching to hit something. Geoff held him tight, protecting him from himself. Jeremy held both of them, strong arms around both their backs, reassuring even though they trembled.

Geoff’s phone ringing interrupted the moment.

Geoff shook his head, wiping his eyes with the palms of his hands and took a deep breath before he answered it.

“Gavin,” he swallowed hard, “…no. Ryan’s dead.”

The words came out so flat; he could hardly believe he’d spoken them at all.

Without Geoff and Jeremy to hold him still, Michael took out his aggression on the brick wall, throwing his fist with all his strength into it and howling in pain through gritted teeth when it connected. His knuckles were bloody and raw already, but he kept throwing punches, over and over until Jeremy nearly tackled him to stop.

“Gavin?”

Gavin had gone deathly quiet on the other end of the phone.

“I’m here Geoff.” He said in a very small voice. The same voice repeated the words to Jack and Geoff could hear only disbelief as he said: “Ryan’s dead Jack.”

Jack was more animated in his reaction to the news, snatching the phone away from Gavin and demanding answers from Geoff, “Ryan’s dead? How? Was it the cops? Why didn’t he call us?”

Geoff didn’t answer him, instead he turned to Michael, “Bring the car around the back, let’s get him home.”

Geoff knelt down next to Ryan’s body, gently brushing his hair out of his face.

“I wish you knew we would have been there for you… I’m so sorry, buddy.”


End file.
